Essential information on Jaipur, Rajasthan

Delhi, Agra and Jaipur are a part of the most popular travel itinerary in India , Every foreigner coming to India and every tourist visiting Rajasthan would include golden triangle tour packages as a part of their holiday experience .Below is some touristic information on Jaipur :

As the sun softens and the punishing Rajasthan heat eases off the canny visitor to Jaipur hops in a taxi and spins out of town. On the road to Amber, a turning off left twists and turns up to the summit of a long, high ridge of the Aravalli Hills called Kali Khoh.

Clifftop Jaigarh Fort is at the end of the road to the right. Here the Rajput chieftain's built-in throne perches like an eagle's nest on the battlements. From it, there is a raja's-eye-view down to Amber fort-palace. The location is superb. The fort sprawls over its own hill in a valley protected on all sides by rugged mountains. As extra defiance, castellated walls snake up the mountainsides, punctuated by watch-towers. From his seat, the clan chief of the Kachchwahas could survey the whole valley, espy any threats, receive warning signals from look-out posts and give orders to attack the enemy. For this was the nearest Rajput stronghold to Delhi, the capital of a succession of Muslim invaders: through the gap to the north lay the threat of first the sultans, then the powerful Mughal.

At the other end of the ridge, Nahargarh Fort mounts equally impressive guard over the later Kachchwaha capital, Jaipur. As the sun ripens to a glowing Rajasthani crimson, the honks, shouts and music waft up from the city. Standing on the walls to peer down on to the plain, you can easily pick out the original grid-plan, walled city in the foreground of Rajasthan's capital, whose tentacles now sprawl into infinity.

Jaipur contrasts sharply with tightly protected Amber Fort. Such comparative vulnerability reflected the confidence of its eighteenth - century builder, Maharaja Jai Singh II. With overflowing coffers and seven m generations of Kachchwaha rulers behind hi who had kept not merely a diplomatic peace with the Mughals but had Mughal emperors and led Mughal armi married their princesses to es, he could leave off Rajput soldiering and indulge in more intellectual pastimes.

As the stars twinkle into life, the taxi zigzags down to the plain and Through Zorawa Singh Gate into Jai Singh's city. This is the best hour to wander the streets. The locals are out in force. At Bari Chaupar crossroads, gaggles of girls in saffron saris barter for bangles, while housewives swathed in raspberry pink, turquois and tomato red, jingle their arm and ankle dark-skinned bangles as they glide about the jasmine-scented air of the flower stalls. Tall, dark-skinned, pink-turbaned men amble past sackfuls of fresh ginger and chillies lit by dangling naked light-bulbs. Behind the city Palace, men and women scurry through Jaleb Chowk to Govinda Deva Temple to do Puja to the blue-skinned god Krishna. Down Johari Bazar, a magnificent parade of elephants, camels and floats carrying children dressed up as Krishna and his beloved Radha makes its stately progress, the way lit by women balancing gas lamps on their heads. At the gateways, piles of tempting sweetmeats glisten beneath rows of fairy lights. And up on the hill behind the palace, Nahargarh Fort is now floodlit like some extravagant prop for a Wagner opera.

Jaipur is no quiet provincial town. Built as the capital of the then most powerful Rajput state, it is now the capital of Rajasthan, the government seat for all the former states of Rajputana and their hilltop forts, fairy tale palaces and exotic maharajas. The core may be pink and pretty, but it is also noisy and dusty, and its bouncy black tempos (motor bike taxis) belch out polluting fumes into the dry heat; and the municipality makes little effort to keep the city clean. Best times to explore are early and late in the day, lolling in a palace or mansion-turned-hotel in between.

To see the warring Rajput at his most splendid, visit Amber first, going by car or bus. In town, Jai Singh's palace city is best seen on foot or by auto-rickshaw. More palaces and mansions, originally built in country suburbs, litter the rest of the city. Despite the encroachment of modern living, colourful processions for weddings and Hindu festivals are daily events, side lanes are crowded with traditional craftsmen and merchants, and the thoroughly royal game of polo thrives.

Note: Jaipur's monuments mostly have short opening hours, from 9.30 or 10.00 am until 4.30 pm.

For further information on travel to Jaipur , contact Swan Tours - one of the leading travel agents in India.